Aave Gains Institutional Backing as Grayscale Launches Dedicated Fund

• Grayscale Investments has launched a dedicated Aave Trust, providing institutional investors with direct exposure to AAVE, one of the leading DeFi platforms. 
• The Grayscale Aave Trust is just an additional crypto investment product offered by the digital asset manager that has hit the ranks of more than 20.

Grayscale, the world’s largest crypto asset manager recently announced the launch of a new investment fund to Aave. This new development will expose institutional investors to one of the leading DeFi platforms. 

The Grayscale Aave Trust is just an additional crypto investment product offered by the digital asset manager that has hit the ranks of more than 20. Aave will join a broader suite of digital asset investment products that already include trusts for major assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum , as well as lesser-known tokens such as Basic Attention Token and Chainlink.

Additionally, Grayscale has consistently expanded its offerings, with recent launches including trusts for Sky (formerly MakerDAO), Bittensor, and Sui in August. It’s worth noting that Aave enables users to borrow and lend digital assets using self-executing smart contracts, removing the need for traditional intermediaries such as banks.

The launch of the Aave trust comes at a time when the Decentralized lending and borrowing platform is blooming. Aave is making significant strides in the DeFi space, and in connection to this, according to DefiLama, the platform boasts nearly $12 billion in total value locked.

By leveraging blockchain technology and smart contracts, Aave’s decentralized platform aims to optimize lending and borrowing while removing intermediaries and reducing reliance on human judgment, Grayscale’s head of product and research, Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, said in a statement.

At the time of writing, AAVE is swapping wallets for $151.37, marking a 7.42% and 19.35% surge in the past 24 hours and past month, respectively, and over 130% in the past 12 months. Additionally, AAVE’s market cap has seen a 7.41% surge, stopping at $2.26 billion, while at the same time, its daily trading volume stands at $378 million following a 45.66% surge.

Also, in July, the token recently saw AAVE token holders endorse a proposal to upgrade its tokenomics in which a mechanism will be introduced that directs a portion of the protocol’s revenue to AAVE speakers. This mechanism strengthens the token’s utility and incentivizes greater community participation, further enhancing Aave’s appeal to investors.

Grayscale, with $21 billion in assets under management, is creating a wide array of opportunities for institutional investors who want exposure to the new asset class.  However, the firm is actively diversifying its product line to include other digital assets, particularly those that power decentralized finance.

Dave LaValle, Grayscale’s global head of ETFs, recently commented on the future of cryptocurrency investment products, stating:

We’re going to see a number of more single-asset products, and then also certainly some index-based and diversified products, LaValle said.